Counting Days
by 7557
Summary: It was WWII, and Germany was faced with an early victory turned into a hopeless defeat. He thought with his brother and allies by his side he will be able to face his crazy boss, the dispute among his people, and the attack from other nations. But at the end of all this, someone has to be sacrificed. Germany and Prussia, not Germancest.


Germany arrived at the _Auschwitz-Birkenau_camp, one of the earliest extermination camps operating, just slightly after dawn. The camp stood rigid on the land that once belonged to Poland, now seized from him. He flashed his identification card to the entrance guards and stormed through the mammoth metal gates. Marching straight into the main office room, he barged in and confronted the man sitting behind the table.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked. His voice already turned to a vicious snarl.

"Ah, Germany. What a delightful surprise having you here." The man stood straight and saluted. Seeing that Germany did not respond, he put down his arm and clasped his hands together. "You came just in time. Would you like to join me for breakfast?" "Stop this unnecessary gibberish. You know exactly why I'm here and I demand an answer right now."

A devious smile decorated the smaller man's face and he chuckled. "Well, as you can see here, this is another concentration camp, although it serves a slightly different purpose." He stepped towards the window and gestured for Germany to join him. Slowly, Germany too stood by the glass and looked down. "See there? Those are the batch of people that arrived just a few hours ago. Rather than people, I'd say, Jews."

Germany glared at the figure next to him with disgust. "What will you make them do?"

He chuckled again. "Well, it's simple, really. We'll just tell them to undress and get into a sealed chamber. Then they'll just have to wait patiently as we channel Hydrogen Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide into the room, and remove the carcass after they're done."

In one swift movement, Germany seized him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "You beast, those are also the people of Germany, and you're treating them like garbage!" Germany now looked like a lion baring his fangs at his prey, intimidating and deadly.

The other figure, however, did not waver under his piercing glare. "That was very nice of you." He lifted his hand to gently push Germany's hand away while speaking with a smirk, "But the _Führer_ himself has given his consent for this. There's nothing you can do now, is there?"

Before he could respond, another man slammed the door open and burst into the room. "Hey, West. I hope you don't forget about that meeting we're having today. If we're gonna make it in time we must leave now."

"Well, if it isn't the great Prussia." The man casually addressed the silver haired man from under Germany's death grip. "I assume you're here to pick up those documents, yes?"

"Yes. Now let go of him so we can go, West. We haven't got all day."

Germany let his hands fall, eyes burning with rage and disbelief. The man straightened his collar and sighed. "I think highly of you, Germany. I really do. It is my sworn duty and privilege to aid you in whatever way I can. Especially in cleaning the streets from those filthy Jews," he spat disgust as he said the word, "My only concern is that you're too soft. You can't be mourning over killing a rat from your garden. The only thing it does is hindering your path to glory." He walked back to his desk and tidied all the files and papers on it. "Now," he said, turning to Germany, "how about breakfast?"

Without another word, Germany turned on his heels and strode out of the door. "I'll take that as a no then." Selecting a dark brown envelope from the corner of the now tidy desk, he picked it up and handed it to Prussia. "Thank you," Prussia said, eyeing the envelope, and he began to walk towards the door.

"Before I leave," Prussia turned his head as he halted just before he stepped out, "I trust you won't talk to my brother like that again, yes?" With that, he shot a menacing glare, even sharper and more vicious than Germany's. "I'm not as tolerant as he is, you know."

The whole world knew Prussia was not the type to make an empty bluff. His calm composure even added on to the terror he gives. Even if he managed to keep his cool when facing Germany, the shorter man couldn't help the cold sweat that started running down his palms and neck. "Yes, certainly." He tried, quite unsuccessfully, to hide the trace of fear in his voice.

"Good. Farewell, then."

-x-

Germany was silent the whole trip, and he didn't seem to be focused during the meeting. They returned to their office in Berlin just slightly before midnight. Germany's mood still hadn't improved even then.

"I can't believe that fiend is doing this!" Germany shouted angrily while pacing back and forth in the spacious office room. "Calm down, West. There's nothing we can do about it." Prussia called while sitting on the sofa. Germany shot a glare at him and strode towards him. The fact that Prussia didn't seem to give a damn infuriated him even more. "How can I just stay calm and accept this? Those are MY PEOPLE they are murdering!" He stopped just a step away from the sofa and practically yelled into Prussia's face.

"We're here to win a war! Not to kill our own people!" "Which is exactly why you should let it go. There's nothing we could do now." Prussia stated calmly. Face burning red with rage, Germany finally lost his temper. True, he gets angry a lot, especially with all the stress he's had lately. But for him to lose control was very rare.

"How could you do this? Do you not care about what happens to our people as long as we fight bravely at the frontline and drove back the enemy? We are the embodiment of the people for God's sake! They are the only thing we have!" Noticing where this conversation is going, Prussia's body tensed as he rose from his seat and his lazy gaze instantly transformed to a dangerous glare.

"Watch your mouth." He snarled back to the blonde man.

"**You** of all people should know best how it feels when your people died!"

Prussia raised a hand and slapped his brother across his face so hard until he fell backwards on the floor. Shocked, Germany stared at the older man wide eyed, one hand holding his now stinging cheek.

Prussia rose and kneeled in front of the blonde man so that their faces are just inches apart, looking deep into his eyes.

"You don't have to remind me about it," Prussia stated coldly, his voice laced with pain. "I understand perfectly how much it hurts. But the _Führer_ already gave his consent. It is our duty to follow his orders."

"But I-"

"There are no excuses, Germany." Prussia snapped at him. "I thought I raised you better than this. Physically threatening an official, what in the world were you thinking!" At that Germany fell silent, his blurry eyes directed to the marble floor.

Prussia sighed and leaned forward to wrap his arms around Germany's shoulders. "I understand your pain, but we must follow the orders of our superiors." Prussia said quietly, his voice almost fell to a whisper. "This is also for the sake of our people. You understand that, don't you?" Germany just nodded his head silently as he shut his eyes tight, struggling to keep his sanity in the midst of pain. "This is a curse we must bear, as countries," Prussia said, "remember that, and live on. For the sake of our people."

-x-

It was years since the Second World War began. Germany himself was already weakened from the internal dispute between his people and his superiors. Moreover, the Allied Forces, that showed the impression of facing imminent defeat in the earlier phase of the war, fought back like never before, and suppressed the Axis Powers. Germany is now in the midst of chaos, and the people were uncertain if they had a chance at all to win the war.

Sitting nervously in a trench, he listened intently to his radio for any sign of the enemy. He had bandages up and down his torso and limbs, numerous scratches and bruises all over his skin, blisters covered his fingers, and his head is in constant pain from the arguments and disagreements between his superiors. Beside him was his brother. He was in no better condition than him, if not worse.

"Ahh," Prussia sighed, "what I would do to take a hot bath right now." He flapped his dirty and blood stained shirt up and down, in a vain attempt to dry his sweat. Despite a huge bruise on his left cheek, he still managed to put up his usual grin.

"Some wurst and beer would be nice too," Germany added with a smile. "I know, right?" Prussia's crimson eyes lit up considerably, no doubt from imagining a lavish banquet of his favorite dishes. The younger man simply chuckled and handed him a water bottle. "For now we'll have to be content with this."

"Ugh… It doesn't even taste like water anymore," Prussia stuck his tongue out after taking a sip. "But never mind that! With the power of my awesome imagination this will taste just as good as beer!" He excitedly exclaimed as he forced a full gulp down his throat. "Not a very good one, though," he winced as the strange liquid entered his stomach.

Having these rare warm moments with his brother and allies was the only thing that kept Germany sane throughout the last few years. He smiled slightly at the sight of his goofy brother. It was hard to believe that this careless grin came from the nation that had ruled most of Europe in his glorious days.

But all smiles vanished as the radio spat out the lines they never hoped to hear.

"The enemy was sighted 2500 meters from the frontline and approaching steadily. Estimated time 2 minutes before the enemy's fighter planes engage. The opposing party detected consists of England and France. I repeat-"

"It's time," Prussia hissed as he took one last swig from the bottle and proceeded to put on his helmet and clicked his guns. Germany grabbed his radio and started barking orders to different squads. Not a moment later, a couple of German fighter planes dashed over their heads and soon enough the sound of gun fires echoed throughout the sky.

Everything happened so fast. Germany winced in pain as he watched many of his men collapsed on the battleground. The last thing he remembered was that a bomb struck his post and he instinctively jumped to cover his brother.

Then everything went black.

-x-

"Good, you're awake."

Germany blinked his eyes several times, trying to adjust to the unfamiliar light.

'Wasn't I in the battlefield?' he thought absentmindedly, trying to sort out the images and echoes that flashed in his mind.

His eyes focused after a while, and his eyes fell on an unfamiliar figure. He could tell that the elderly man was not one of his people, neither a country. He had a stethoscope slung over his neck and his white coat hinted that he was a doctor. Only when he spoke did Germany realize what happened.

"His vital signs are stable, and all the bleedings stopped. I say it's safe enough to take him now." He said with a deep voice, thick with British accent. Germany groaned at the sudden pain that pierced his skull. He tried to move his hands, only to find that they were chained to the side of his bed.

He chuckled dryly. "I'm caught, am I?" The elderly man said nothing, but instead gestured to two guards waiting at the door to come in. They adjusted the chains so his hands were now behind his back. They pulled him off the bed and escorted him out of the room.

They passed several corridors and a flight of stairs before they entered through a pair of massive, beautifully carved wooden doors.

It was a large, brilliantly decorated conference room. It was dead silent. Germany was seated at the edge of the long table and the two guards stood by his sides. His wrists itched beneath the metal handcuffs and every inch of his skin throbbed in pain. He sighed through his dry throat. A few minutes later, the door swung open and two familiar figures emerged.

After gesturing for the guards to leave, England grabbed a chair on Germany's left side and sat, while France decided to remain standing at his right side. "Well, we caught you at last," England folded his arms as he leaned back to his chair. "You were out cold for a whole week."

Germany said nothing. For a few minutes there was nothing but the threatening silence.

"So," France started, "I heard your boss sent a bullet flying through his brain a few days ago." Germany turned to him, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. France just shrugged his shoulders. "Figured you should at least know about this."

"We also found his lackey." England stated coldly. "He was hiding among German prisoners in my territory. Was about to juice information out of him, but he swallowed that cyanide pill before we got the chance to."

Germany let his head droop a little. 'So,' he thought, 'we lost after all.'

"You will be staying in my place for now, until it's time for your trial in a few days." England said as he rose from his seat and went to Germany's side. "But before that," England clenched his fist and sent it flying straight to Germany's face. It packed quite a punch, considering it came from one of the strongest and most feared nations ever walked on earth.

"Man, that felt good." The green eyed blonde groaned in satisfaction as he popped his knuckles. "Wanted to do that at least once." Germany spat blood onto the polished marble floor, but he kept his face deprived of any emotions.

England grabbed his arm and led him out of the room. Eventually, they reached the building's underground dungeon. Germany let his eyes carelessly wander around the room, until they fell on a familiar figure.

"Prussia!"

England unlocked his handcuffs and shoved him into the prison cell next to Prussia's. After England left, Germany moved towards the metal bars that stood between him and his brother. "_Bruder_! Are you alright?" Prussia scooted closer to him and grinned.

"I'm fine, West. I just woke up around five hours ago, and they sent my ass flying in here right away. Man, I'm hungry. You know, at least they'd be able to feed someone who just woke up after a whole week of beauty sleep before interrogation, yeah? As long as it's not eyebrow's cooking, though. Oh, but France's here. At least he'd be able to make something decent. Damn beardo, he thinks he-" Prussia immediately stopped his rant as soon as he noticed it.

"Say, West," he reached a hand between the bars and hold Germany's face. "What happened to you? That doesn't look very pretty." He examined Germany's cheek, already turning purple.

"It's nothing," Germany said with a small smile, relieved that his brother was still his usual obnoxious self, "just a little gift from England."

"He did WHAT?"

Oh, great.

Prussia's overprotective big brother mode just activated.

"Damn eyebrows. Just wait until I see that little fucker. I'll be sure to pluck off those hideous little things off his face in the most painful way imaginable. Strand. By. Strand." Germany thought he caught a sadistic smirk crept up Prussia's face.

"It's fine, brother."

"No, it's NOT fine! No ex-delinquent old man is gonna get away with hurting my brother!" Prussia then proceeded ranting for another fifteen minutes about how he was going to mop the entire floor of Reichstag building and wipe its windows sparkling clean with England.

Seeing his brother like that, everything felt normal. Germany felt like they were in Berlin instead of some London prison, arguing about trivial matters instead of threatening and plotting to annihilate a country. It was as if the war never happened, and they were just normal brothers living normal lives.

But then again, they were countries.

Prussia sighed after he was finally done. "The Italy brothers are here too, you know." "Really? Where are they now?" Prussia pointed across the room to another pair of prison cells. It was dim, but Germany could see the two brunettes, lying unmoving at the floor.

Germany immediately shot up from his sitting position, alarmed. "Italy! Romano! Can you hear me?" But there was no response.

"Oh God, are they alright?" Germany was genuinely frightened for the brothers. "They're fine." Prussia answered him calmly and gestured for him to sit down again. "Apparently they've been here since two days ago. They've been constantly complaining about the food but aside from that they're perfectly fine."

"Then why aren't they answering?"

"Three hours ago they said something in Italian about siesta and after a few swearing and a lot of arguing all I heard was a snore. I've been trying to wake them up because I'm bored, but they won't wake up no matter what I do. They're like a bunch of corpse when they're asleep, I say. It's about time they wake up, actually." Prussia answered calmly and put his hands at the back of his head.

Germany couldn't do anything but to facepalm himself.

With a groan, he sat back down and leaned on the stone wall. "Why did I have to get all worked up about this, again?" He mumbled. "No reason," Prussia shrugged his shoulders. "But you have to admit. Watching you panic like that was fucking hilarious," he said with a mischievous smirk.

Right.

That's so typical of him.

"But you know," Prussia's tone got serious all of the sudden. "I heard America got Japan already. Hit him with a nuclear bomb. Twice. The poor guy didn't have a choice but to surrender."

Germany let out an exasperated sigh.

"So," he mumbled, "we lost after all, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose we did." Prussia stared blankly into the dungeon ceiling. "They said they'll bring in Japan in a few days. The trial would be in less than a week, I suppose."

The trial.

Germany had an idea how it would go, but a part of him refused to admit it.

"I won't have much time left, you know." Prussia said, as if reading his mind. "I'll be the one to bear the weight of our punishment. There's no way around that."

Germany felt his heart fell. "No. There has to be a way to avoid it. They can't do that!"

"It's useless, West." Prussia said. "The whole world needed to blame the war on someone. They need a scapegoat. And let's face it. I'm practically on the brink of non-existence. I don't even have a government anymore! The easiest way to do it with minimum effect to the people, is simply by eradicating my existence."

"No, I won't accept this. It's unfair! France won't approve it either!"

"And why is that?" Prussia snapped at him. "He has no reason to. Our long history of friendship has no part in this. True, Francis may not agree with this. But France is our enemy right now." He said sharply, his voice deep with pain of betrayal. Germany couldn't think anymore. He knew there was no way around it, just like Prussia said. But he just won't accept it.

Before he could say anything, he noticed a movement across the room.

"Uhh… What's going on?" Italy started to sit down, still half asleep. His eyes opened wide as soon as he noticed the addition to the people in the room. "Ve! Germany, you're here! Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Did they feed you anything?" He started flailing his arms around and shot the words at the speed of a machine gun.

"He's fine, Italy." Prussia answered with a grin in behalf of his brother. "Nobody fed us with anything and that's why we're so damn hungry! Ahh… I wish we can all eat your delicious pasta now, Italy."

"Ugh, shut up stupid _fratello_. You're too noisy." All eyes pointed to Romano, who had just begun to sit down and rubbed his eyes with the back of one hand. He too, stared wide eyed at the tall blonde in the cell opposite of his.

"Holy shit the potato bastard's here!" He jumped up from the floor and scampered to the furthest corner of the cell. "You better didn't do anything to my brother and I while we're asleep!" He screeched as he pointed a finger at Germany.

"But _fratello_, how could he possibly do anything when he's all the way over there?" For once, Italy said something logical. "Shut up! You're always backing him up!"

As the two brunettes began arguing, Prussia slipped a hand between the metal bars and held Germany's hand.

"Please don't make this even harder than it already is, West. I'll be gone in a few days and you know it." Germany couldn't do or say anything. He just let his head hang and gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. "Do me a favor, and make my last days count, yeah?"

At that Prussia let go of his hand. Germany was about to speak when Italy interrupted him. "Hey Prussia, Germany. Do you think they'll let me use their kitchen? I'm starving, and I don't want to eat any of those disgusting lump of burnt wheat again."

Romano frowned at his brother's idea. "Are you an idiot? Do you actually think they'll let us invade their kitchen like that? We're prisoners here, in case you didn't realize!" He scowled as his curl bounced up and down in irritation.

"Well, actually they should be grateful that you're cooking at all! It should teach that eyebrows to make edible food for once." Prussia laughed. "No worries, Italy! The awesome me will help you to get that access to the kitchen, otherwise we'll definitely starve to death!" Much to Romano's annoyance, he's agreeing with Prussia.

"_Do me a favor, and make my last days count, yeah?"_

Those words echoed in Germany's mind. Make today count. That's what it's all about. He pushed back all his worries and smiled.

"Well then. I suppose we should start with getting the guards' attention, yes?"

* * *

The man in the office and Fuhrer's lackey refers to Heinrich Himmler. He was Hitler's right hand man and was responsible for the massacre of the Jews.  
The Reischtag building was sort of Germany's parliament building. I know it wasn't being used in WWII but still XD  
Actually Hitler's death and the bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki wasn't done in the span of a few days but It fits the story better so yeah XD  
Critics welcome ;w;


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